City of Midway asks family to take produce tent down

MIDWAY, GA (WTOC) -

A Midway family business said the city asked them to take down their children's produce tent set up near the street entrance to their store.

The family run business set up the tent hoping to draw in more customers to their shop hidden in the back and give the kids a bigger role in operations, but said the city told them they had to take it down.

The Morrison family owns and runs Foods of the Farm in Midway. They sell fresh baked goods, produce and jams.

Recently the family decided on Wednesdays they would allow the kids to try and sell some of the goods closer to the road, hoping to attract more customers to the main store

"We try to sell stuff. We try to wave people in. We made all kinds of big signs but for the most part you don't get a lot of business but it was still pretty fun," Max Morrison said.

But Wednesday afternoon, the Morrison's got a visit from the police, telling them they had to take the tent down.

"We were both sad. Because we really enjoyed it and we were really looking forward to doing it next week," Max Morrison said.

The reasons to why they had to take down the tent became unclear.

The Morrison's said originally they were told there were juveniles running the booth and their business license doesn't permit them to sell anything away from the front door.

"We're not selling used cars. We're selling the same things that we sell in the stores and we're not trying to do a second business," Scott Morrison said.

Then the family said on Thursday morning they got a completely different answer from City Hall, that they were in the state owned right-of-way.

"We heard one thing from the police chief we heard another from City Hall," Scott Morrison said.

The Midway mayor spoke with WTOC off camera and said she called the police concerned that she saw a little girl sitting alone at the tent, too close to the road. According to city ordinance she said any display has to be 50 feet from the road.

But this isn't the first time the city of Midway has been in the center of a similar issue.

Just a few years ago, the city said the three young girls didn't have the proper business license to run a lemonade stand in their front yard, and that they were too close to the street.

While the Morrison's said it's still unclear the reasons why, they are confident something will be worked out.

"So I'm confident we can work it out. A few city council members came by today and I'm very confident that they want to work with us," Scott Morrison said.

Mrs. Morrison said she was checking on the kids about every thirty minutes and that there was no need to call the police in all this.

She hopes to put the issue on the agenda for the next city council meeting to make sure this type of thing doesn't happen to another business.